Siem Reap, KH – Productive garden assists family to pay their Rent-to-Own home’s rent on time – Jan 2023

LY family was once featured in Better Lives monthly article “Productive garden assist family to follow their dream” in 2020. Now maybe I should call it productive garden assists family to pay their Rent-to-Own (RTO) home’s rent on time.

Food Always In The Home (FAITH) garden systems are readily accessible to the RTO families. Market gardens are also valuable to the families who have a small plot area because they offer a way to generate extra income rapidly. A small investment in seeds and a small amount of labour can provide a return from the sale of vegetables within six to eight weeks.

Take as an example Mr Leow Yang family. Mr Leow lives in a RTO home with his wife and four children. They just had a small child. It difficult to move around when you have little children, especially when gardening is the only source of your income. Despite the challenges, Yang has been determined to improve his livelihood by becoming a market gardener. By taking the advice of the Peaksneng Thormacheat shop garden team, Yang has been able to improve his yields and income.

In this area of Siem Reap, farming including vegetable production is the primary occupation for most people who are mostly small holders earning low incomes. Mr Yang is a farmer and construction worker, he is growing vegetables on less than 1/4 hectare of land and producing a variety of vegetables. His recent harvest was able to earn a very good income from cucumber. The family started a new market garden of cucumber and eggplant, and the garden’s income is assisting him to pay off his RTO home diligently.

His dream is to have enough income to support his children going to school and get a good future, because “our children are our hope”.